Mutual Aid & Community Care Are the Antithesis of Capitalistic Greed
One of Our Community Members Needs Our Help - Let's come together to support a member of our community in her most urgent time of need.
Hey all, I hope everyone is doing well enough today (considering everything going on in this wild world).
Today I am asking for your help.
One of our community members, a dear friend of mine and a main moderator who helps me keep the NeuroDivergent Rebel Facebook page safe for everyone (Heather), is struggling and desperately needs help.
Heather is someone David and I met while on our travels (in all the years we were on the road, we only made 2 friends, and Heather is one of those friends we made). She is now one of my closest friends, and this community would not be the safe space it is without Heather.
When we met her, she had a remote job (that has since vanished), leaving her stranded in an unsafe location without access to resources that could help a struggling NeuroDivergent Person get back on their feet.
Heather is currently facing an urgent situation. She has been struggling with unstable income and housing for some time, and is now at risk of eviction from her already precarious living situation.
We need to get Heather (and her wonderful service dog, Louie) stabilized (and ideally to a safer place).
Mutual Aid & Community Care Are the Antithesis of Capitalistic Greed
How?
Mutual aid is about rejecting the idea that everyone should fend for themselves. It's about recognizing that we all need help sometimes, and that the system we live in is often the cause of our struggles, not our own failures.
When we offer mutual aid, we are engaging in direct action, not bureaucracy: people provide help directly and quickly to those who need it, bypassing slow institutions, complex applications, and gatekeeping by those in power who hoard resources.
Mutual aid is based on cooperation, not competition: everyone works together to solve problems. This is the opposite of competing against each other for resources, jobs, or status.
Mutual aid is based on free giving (without expectations), not on transactional expectations: With mutual assistance, help is given based on need, not a person's ability to pay. Mutual aid operates on solidarity, not a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" exchange.
Mutual aid promotes an abundance mindset (over scarcity): Capitalism relies on scarcity to create demand and drive prices up, pitting people against one another, whereas mutual aid operates on the principle that if we share what we have (time, money, skills), there is enough for everyone.
The community model of mutual support (and lifting one another up) prioritizes care and collective well-being (instead of capital and individual wealth).
If you're in a position to help Heather (and it won't put you in a difficult spot), I'll provide the necessary links for you to do so (below).
If you can’t support monetarily, engaging with the post (or sharing it) is an AMAZING (and priceless) way you can help more people see it.
Heather’s Info:
Venmo: @hkoefitz
CashApp: $hkoefitz
Heather’s Email (for other means of support): LudoAndHisFriends@gmail.com
Thanks All, I’m grateful for you!
-Lyric Lark Rivera
I do feel capitalism is a worldwide phenomenon… I wrote about this in my assignment on Insecurity and Precariousness in a Globalised World. It is a system that pits us against each other and also why people end up, voting against their own needs. It goes beyond Marxism concept of bourgeoisie and the proletariat. According to Guy Standing precariat is the class lower than proletariat because it refers to those on low income who work in “gig economy” such as care workers and delivery drivers. It also includes others who are marginalised in society including Neurodivergent and disabled people… I do like the idea of mutual aid, as it community based puts us at more at same level, rather than hierarchy… I have found recently in the UK that politicians have been pulled up on tax evasions etc and as a result MPs are resigning from roles their roles in the British government.
Capitalism is all about greed